UNH bid for Frozen Four denied by Notre Dame

MANCHESTER — After Saturday's win over Miami, coach Dick Umile said it was all about taking the next step.

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By AL PIKE

seacoastonline.com

By AL PIKE

Posted Mar. 28, 2011 at 2:00 AM

By AL PIKE

Posted Mar. 28, 2011 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

MANCHESTER — After Saturday's win over Miami, coach Dick Umile said it was all about taking the next step.

The next step for the University of New Hampshire hockey team is packing the gear away for another year. The Wildcats were frozen out of the Frozen Four once again.

One win away from the Frozen Four for the third year in a row, the Wildcats dropped an excruciating 2-1 decision to Notre Dame on Sunday night in the final of the Northeast Regional at Verizon Wireless Arena.

"(It feels) terrible right now," said defenseman Blake Kessel. "Three years in a row. The juniors and seniors have gone through it together."

Trailing 1-0, UNH surrendered a goal with five seconds left in the second period that turned out to be the eventual game-winner.

"Words can't describe it right now," senior forward Phil DeSimone said, after taking a few minutes to compose himself. "Maybe we deserved to win that game with the way that we played, but we couldn't capitalize on our chances."

After playing a near-perfect game the previous night against top-seeded Miami, in which the fourth-seeded Wildcats neutralized the RedHawks' top guns, they failed to follow it up with a similar performance, falling behind early in the first period on a long shot from just inside the blue line.

UNH (22-11-6) had plenty of chances against Irish goalie and tournament MVP Mike Johnson (37 saves), who stymied the Wildcats most of the night and gave up few rebounds. They peppered him with 16 shots in the second period, but had nothing to show for it.

"We left it all out there," Kessel said. "That's all we can say. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We played hard as a group."

Third-seeded Notre Dame (24-14-5) struck a deflating blow when Billy Maday made it 2-0 with five ticks left in the second period that spoiled a solid effort by goalie Matt DiGirolamo, who stopped the first 14 shots he faced in the second.

The Wildcats finally broke through when Mike Sislo, who was named to the All-Tournament team, converted Matt Campanale's centering feed with 6:23 remaining in the third period to make it 2-1.

"We just got (the puck) deep," said a tearful Sislo. "Matt Campanale did a great job getting the puck and putting it out front. That's what we needed, to get pucks out in front of the net. I stopped it with my skate and put it in with a quick shot.

"It was a big goal at that point," he added.

UNH had a late power play but failed to capitalize. And when defenseman Mike Beck took a tripping penalty at 18:16, that prevented the Wildcats from pulling DiGirolamo for an extra skater until 35 seconds remained.

"It's disappointing we couldn't pull it out," Umile said. "Obviously the second goal they scored at the end of the second period was a tough one. We had our chances but we couldn't score and tie it up."

When the Wildcats squandered the late power-play chance it made them 0-for-19 with the man advantage over the final four games.

"I take that personally," Kessel said. "You get that chance with four minutes left and you don't capitalize. I'm feeling partly responsible for that. It hurts right now. We had the opportunity. I'm one of the guys on the ice with 26 other guys counting on us out there. We've got to get something done."

The Wildcats were trying to reach the Frozen Four for the first time since 2003, the second of back-to-back appearances. Notre Dame advanced to its second Frozen Four and first since 2008, when it lost to Boston College in the national championship game.

The Fighting Irish will play Minnesota-Duluth in the nationals semifinals on April 7 in St. Paul, Minn. Top-ranked North Dakota and Michigan are also in the Frozen Four.

"We just wanted to get that first one by him," said senior forward Paul Thompson. "We thought we could get a second one but it was just too late in the game and we didn't have enough time."

UNH started strong, pressuring the Notre Dame end and Johnson. The Wildcats outshot the Fighting Irish over the first seven minutes, 8-1.

But it was Notre Dame that scored first when defenseman Stephen Johns whistled a slap shot from just inside the blue line past DiGirolamo at 7:26 of the first period, which ended with the Fighting Irish ahead, 1-0.

The deficit didn't bode well for UNH, which was 1-3-2 this season when trailing after one period.

The Wildcats had the only power play of the first period, but couldn't pull even, making them 0-for-17 with the man advantage over the last 10 periods.

"Their whole team made it tough to get it on net," Sislo said. "I had a couple chances I wish I could take back but I can't."

The second period belonged to the goaltenders until Maday flipped a backhander home with five seconds left to the give the Fighting Irish a 2-0 lead entering the third.

At the other end Johnson made sparkling glove saves on Kevin Goumas with 4:04 left in the period and John Henrion with 21.2 seconds remaining. Alone in front, Sislo also missed a glittering chance that Johnson turned aside.

"We didn't get the bounces today," DeSimone said, "and their goalie played unbelievable."